Apparatus for regenerating an adsorber in a gas drying plant

Abstract

An apparatus for drying a gas includes an adsorber (13), an ejector (29) having an intake nozzle (31) provided with a stop valve (32) and a temperature probe (34) which detects the temperature at the outlet of a heat exchanger (35) and controls the closing of the valve (32) as a function of this temperature.

I claim: 
     
       1. Gas drying apparatus comprising an adsorber having an inlet and an outlet, a source of damp air, a source of dry gas, a heat exchanger arranged outside the adsorber and having primary and secondary fluid circuits, a heat source of variable power which supplies the primary fluid circuit of the heat exchanger, a device for determining the heat power received by the secondary fluid in the heat exchanger, an ejector having an intake nozzle communicating with the source of damp air and a compression duct in fluid communication with said intake duct and said intake nozzle, said ejector also communicating via the secondary fluid circuit of the heat exchanger, with the outlet of the adsorber, a stop valve mounted on the intake nozzle, and means for closing the stop valve when the heating power received by the secondary fluid in the heat exchanger falls below a given threshold. 
     
     
       2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the source of damp air is the room atmosphere. 
     
     
       3. The apparatus of claim 1 comprising a second adsorber mounted parallel to the first and arranged so as to operate in an adsorption phase when the first adsorber operates in a regeneration phase, wherein the outlet of the second adsorber is the source of dry gas. 
     
     
       4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the variable power heat source is a gas compresser which supplies the second adsorber. 
     
     
       5. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the device for determining the heating power is a probe for measuring the temperature of the secondary fluid, mounted downstream of the heat exchanger. 
     
     
       6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the device for determining the heating power is a flowmeter mounted on the primary fluid circuit of the heat exchanger. 
     
     
       7. The apparatus of claim 1, which comprises an intake valve mounted on the intake duct, a timer which defines the period of opening to the intake valve and means for adjusting the timer as a function of the length of time during which the heating power received by the secondary fluid is below the given threshold. 
     
     
       8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the device for determining the heating power comprises a first element which determines a first threshold for the heating power received by the secondary fluid and a second element which determines a second threshold, below the first threshold, for the heating power received by the secondary fluid. 
     
     
       9. The apparatus of claim 8, comprising an intake valve mounted on the intake duct, a timer which defines the period of opening of the intake valve and means which modify the adjustment of the timer differently depending on the length of time during which the heating power is received by the fluid, depending on whether the first or second threshold has been crossed.